


take the shortcut to your heart

by takomomo



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Baking, M/M, Office AU, excessive mentions of pastries, nerd jaehyun, no covid au, yuta with a crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:48:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26280649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/takomomo/pseuds/takomomo
Summary: Yuta sighs and shoves an entire madeleine in his mouth, if he chokes to death, he can rest easy knowing that it’s by a damn good madeleine made by a dastardly handsome man in outdated clothes and coke bottle glasses.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Nakamoto Yuta
Comments: 8
Kudos: 86





	take the shortcut to your heart

A plastic container finds its way to Yuta’s desk when he comes back from the washroom, inside it are oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that are still a little warm. He doesn’t like sweet things but he takes a tentative bite for the heck of it. The chocolate chips are more bitter than sweet and the blandness of the oatmeal is enough to overpower the sweetness.

He glances over the glass partition separating the accounting side of the floor from the IT department and catches a curious stare from the resident geek with glasses the size of dessert plates. Yuta flashes the man a thumbs up and giggles when he looks away in embarrassment. 

  
  


//

  
  


The next time he receives a batch of homemade cookies, they’re gingerbread with molasses and like last time, they’re not overly sweet. It tastes like Christmas and Yuta wonders if it has something to do with the holiday carols one of their colleagues insisted on playing on repeat on her bluetooth speaker two days ago.

Jung Jaehyun, aka the IT guy everyone calls for practically anything, from setting up mailboxes to changing the font for their signatures, is looking everywhere but the accounting department where Yuta’s desk directly faces his. 

When he bumps into him at the pantry during lunch, Yuta pretends not to notice the smell of gingerbread on his shirt and the stains on his sleeve that look suspiciously like molasses.

“Enjoy your lunch.” Jaehyun stammers when Yuta purposely crowds him against the counter on his way back to his desk. 

“You too.”

  
  


//

  
  


Nobody in the office has any idea what the IT guy is up to when he’s not fixing computers or rummaging for sachets of instant coffee in the pantry because management is too stingy to provide a properly working coffee machine. Nobody except Yuta, who now knows Jaehyun must be looking up new recipes when he’s pretending to be in deep concentration. He doesn’t call him out though, he certainly has talent for baking and Yuta doesn’t mind the attention and the sweets.

On that Friday, he gets half a dozen brownies in a similar plastic container, sprinkled with coconut and made crispy on the outside but a soft chewy inside. It’s the perfect texture, Yuta thinks as he sinks his teeth into his second one.

  
  


//

  
  


It’s not fair that someone hot can be smart, good at computers and also be a good baker too, at least that’s what Yuta says to one of the interns. The intern, Donghyuck, frowns at him and points out the fact that Jaehyun is handsome, yes, but definitely not hot, “Have you seen the hideous tie he wears or those grandpa pants?” the boy says incredulously before he steals a cannoli from Yuta’s desk. Well, there’s the tie, yes, but it doesn’t take away from the deep dimples and strong eyebrows.

“He’s still your superior you know.” Yuta snatches the cannoli back with more force than necessary. He’s not even sure how Donghyuck managed to sneak up to him, then again he got a little distracted, “and aren’t you supposed to be at your desk, working?” 

Donghyuck calls him a spoilsport before he scurries back to his department, empty handed like all the other times he tried to steal from Yuta’s plastic containers. 

  
  


//

  
  


Yuta realizes Jaehyun is upping his game when the week comes to an end with four mouth watering millefeuilles in front of his computer after his keyboard had been shoved to the side. The general consensus is that even people without a sweet tooth have a soft spot for millefeuilles, it’s that tantalizing crunch and the creamy filling.

Jaehyun nails it both in taste and appearance because they look so delicately scrumptious that it’s hard to believe someone with such big hands made them, (“stop blushing about his big hands!” Donghyuck complains in disgust). If he didn’t like Jaehyun before, he sure does now, because really, who won’t fall for a guy who makes perfect, patisserie-grade millefeuilles but drinks cheap instant coffee? Such a contradiction, exactly the type Yuta finds attractive. 

It’s just that Jaehyun hasn’t even asked him for his number (“He has your email, your birthplace, your social insurance number, blah blah, because he has access to everyone’s files.” Donghyuck butts into his monologue and Yuta finally sends him away with a well aimed kick) or made any effort to talk to Yuta outside his baking escapades.

  
  


//

“He’s an extremely shy person. Like really extremely shy.” Doyoung tells him in alarm when Yuta lets him in on the secret. The secret being that Jaehyun is a fantastic baker and he’s been using Yuta as guinea pig except he never asks him how they are so the point is moot anyway.

“I mean, I can tell. He’s said less than five words to me in the last month.”

“You’ll have to be straightforward with him or you’re not gonna get anywhere.”

“I thought he was supposed to be the one courting me?”

“That’s where you’re completely wrong Yuta. Jaehyun lures, but he never courts.” 

//

Yuta studies Jaehyun through the glass partition and watches him fumble with a pen when his phone rings four times in a row after a server issue. He tries to get a sip of his instant coffee in between the calls but only ends up staining the front of his white shirt and his favourite ugly tie.

Silently, Yuta ponders how easily he fell into the trap of sweets and unassuming dimpled smiles. He sighs and shoves an entire madeleine in his mouth, if he chokes to death, he can rest easy knowing that it’s by a damn good madeleine made by a dastardly handsome man in outdated clothes and coke bottle glasses.

//

_ Hi Helpdesk, _

_ My emails from yesterday are missing and I need them recovered. Can you please come by after lunch to check? _

Yuta looks at what he typed, wonders if the message is clear enough and decides that fuck it, go big or go home and adds a totally unprofessional smiley face at the end of it, before he clicks send.

He doesn’t have to peek through the partition to see Jaehyun panicking because he already hears staplers falling and papers flying. Yuta smiles and takes out the stack of plastic containers from his bag so he can return them, he has a feeling they won’t be needing those anymore.

  
  



End file.
